This might be one of those ideas that are easy enough to convey, but extremely hard to practice. No matter who you are, in what stage of life you are currently in, everyone struggles with the idea of loving ourselves.
Why is it so complicated to do? The answer is extremely hard to find, at least in the sense that its never the same for each one of us. Our insecurities play a big role of course, but the origin of them sometimes has more to do with past events, that the current situation we are attempting to overcome.
The first that comes to mind every time I’m thinking about this idea is "acceptance". That crucial step in the right direction that allows us to bring some clarity into a world filled with confusion. Accepting who I am sounds like a job that should take mere seconds, but everyone who has ever given this some thought knows how complicated the journey can be.
In the journey to find who we are, we can learn to recognize our inner child and to love it with all its flaws. In those moments of emotional weakness we can learn to recognize the strength it actually takes to be honest with ourselves, to recognize what we like and dislike and stand valiantly in front of important decisions we need to make.
The whole journey for me starts with one question. Do I love who I’ve become today? If the answer is a struggle, then ask myself a thousand times if needed “why?”. Is it my job? My career? My relationships? My faith? Why would I not love the most precious thing I posses, the only thing I posses, me?
I won’t lie, this line of questioning can be painful, it’s not easy to quiet all distractions and be honest with ourselves like this. But at least in my experience, there is no other way to move forward because if we don’t love ourselves, How could we ever love anyone else? And a life without love, is no life at all.